The Oak Arboretum

This walk was started by the Waipa District Council in early 2014.

The Oak Arboretum was established in 2003 and contains several species of oak. It was grazed by cattle for a long time. The Tree Trust had been asking for years for a path from Watkins Rd through to the High School to make life easier for the pupils as well as providing a walk for the public. It took added pressure from Sarah Ulmer and others to convince the Council to go ahead. Funding came from Sarah's efforts, not from ratepayers.

We have made suggestions about extending the planting to include other species. There are about 9ha to play with, and the oaks are fairly widely spaced.

It is hoped that the oval in the middle will be large enough for cricket matches.

In 2016 grazing stopped. The protective tree surrounds were taken down in a remarkably big effort involving Correction Department teams as well as Tree Trust members. The area around each tree was sprayed and mulched, and the result is a very popular walk. The Council still takes a couple of crops of hay off it each year, so onlly the grass near the tracks and the trees is mown.

We took the idea of naming the species that we had come up with in the maple arboretum next door, and put in a post for each species. There are stainless steel nameplates on each post, detailing the botanical name, the common name, the countries where they are native, and the date of planting (2003). The links below take you to a site with very detailed information on each species. It includes many more species than are found in this arboretum. There are several hundred species of oak world-wide.